Purpose & Meaning: Set in Stone

Since its conception, ground-based radio and is technologies have found vast use when available across the world. From its initial use as military communications equipment, to its more contemporary usage as a music receptacle for vehicles in transit, the ground-based radio has resided as an important and well used conduit for information communication. However, in recent years, more and more services have come and gone in a lofty pursuit of quelling and replacing the what is presumably a stand-by for most users.

With advent of mobile streaming services such as 4G based telecommunication technologies and satellite services, radio's place and validity in the world has come under more and more scrutiny. What was once the most relied upon in information transference technology is having the very foundations it has grown be shook and stirred by competition. Should the unassailable giant of mass-communication be toppled for more convenient and modern alternatives or kept steadfast in its reliability?

In this oncoming wake, a somewhat interesting convention has began to sprout out from this idea of change. While not entirely based on ground-based radio broadcasting, satellite-radio has become a relatively recent alternative to well known system and is seeing more and more use as a subscription based service à la Sirius XM Radio. Although significantly more expensive than (what is effectively free sans initial payment) traditional radio, the clarity of sound and significantly larger music choice from most localized stations offers a possibly more enjoyable and more appreciable listening experience.

In addition to the advent of satellite-broadcast based radio services, 4G cellular services through a mobile provider have gained great popularity. As the amount of people carrying a cellphone on their persons increases, the reliance on such a device for information also increases. In order to compensate for this, streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, and Soundcloud now offer a radio-free alternative to the absence left by a lack of such equipment.

Given an increasing variety of avenues, does ground-based radio transceivers truly have as much clout and importance as they once did or have modern alternatives taken place and stature over the once crowned technology? Does the continued maintenance and regulation of the frequencies used by such technologies house the worth in its maintenance and regulation?